From Lullabies to Literature: Stories in the Lives of Infants and Toddlers - Softcover

Birckmayer, Jennifer; Kennedy, Anne; Stonehouse, Anne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1928896529 ISBN 13: 9781928896524

Publisher: The National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2008

Synopsis

The ability to use language (speak, read, write) is not something that children suddenly or automatically develop. It is a culmination of experiences with language that begin at birth. Sharing stories (oral storytelling, books) and other “story experiences” (conversations, songs, poems, rhymes) with infants and toddlers is critical to building their emerging literacy skills. At the same time, it expands their experience and understanding of the world and is a wonderful opportunity for fostering close relationships
between child and adult.

Sprinkled with helpful and delightful vignettes and ideas for stories to share, From Lullabies to Literature explains how the many types of stories are best used with very young children, with a particular focus on using books, and how caregivers can plan and provide story experiences most effectively, including by partnering with families.

About this title

About the Author:

Jennifer Birckmayer has been an early childhood educator, speaker, lecturer, and author for more than forty years. She recently retired from her position as senior extension associate for the Department of Human Development at Cornell University (New York, USA). She is a consultant/trainer for Libraries for the Future, Family Place Libraries, and the State University of New York Early Childhood Training Strategies Group. Among her publications are Bookstart (with B.J. Westendorf) and Discipline Is Not a Dirty Word.

Anne Kennedy has worked in the field of early childhood education for more than thirty years as a teacher and child care director and also as a teacher educator at Monash University (Melbourne, Australia). Dr. Kennedy’s research and publications have focused mainly on ethics in early childhood education and early literacy. She is currently the chairperson of Community Childcare Victoria, which represents community-owned children’s services, including long day care, family child care, and out of school hours care.

Anne Stonehouse is an early childhood education leader in both the United States and Australia. She has worked for more than thirty-five years as a trainer, academic, consultant, conference speaker, and writer. She has authored a number of publications, including Prime Times (with J. Greenman and G. Schweikert) and Making Links (with J. Gonzalez-Mena). In 1999 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia, an honor that recognized her outstanding contributions to early childhood education in Australia and beyond.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

The mode of the storytelling will change as the child develops and learns. For the youngest children, stories are exclusively oral; then later, images can support the narrative; later still, children also can interact with text. As children grow, the previous modes aren’t abandoned; the new ones are just added into children’s story repertoires. In high-quality settings, caregivers carefully plan a sequence of experiences that fit what children are like, what interests them, and what they can do. This applies to sharing stories, too. To be effective, experiences with sounds, language, storytelling, and books aren’t just offered randomly. Different story experiences are appropriate at different times, and certain experiences lay the groundwork for later ones. While the emphasis should always be on knowing children’s interests and ensuring that interactions and communication are warm, engaging, and appropriate, attention to the many changes that children undergo in the first three years of life, and the implications of these for the kinds of story experiences offered, is important.

About this edition

• Publisher: The National Association for the Education of Young Children
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1928896529
• ISBN 13: 9781928896524
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 152